Carrara-Avenza railway station

Carrara-Avenza Apuania Carrara (1939-1949) Avenza (1863-1925)
Platforms of the train station
Location	Carrara, Avenza, via Petacchi Carrara, Massa and Carrara, Tuscany Italy
Coordinates	44°03′04″N 10°03′46″E / 44.05111°N 10.06278°ECoordinates: 44°03′04″N 10°03′46″E / 44.05111°N 10.06278°E
Owned by	RFI
Line(s)	Genova-Pisa railway Private Marble Railway of Carrara (suppressed) Avenza-Carrara railway (suppressed) Industrial junctions of Carrara
Platforms	2 since 2012 13 until the 80
Train operators	Trenitalia
Connections	SITA tramway † (1915–1955) CAT Carrara bus † 2009 (Carrara-Marinella di Sarzana trolleybus † 1985) ATN bus
Other information
Classification	Silver
History
Opened	15 May 1863
Rebuilt	1960 1980
Electrified	In 1926 with three-phase system. Converted to continuous electric current system on April 1947
Location
Carrara-Avenza Apuania Carrara (1939-1949) Avenza (1863-1925) Location within Tuscany

Carrara-Avenza railway station, also known simply as Carrara or Avenza, is a railway station of the city of Carrara, Italy. It is located on the Genova-Pisa line. It is the only station serving the Tuscan city, after the closure of Carrara San Martino in 1969.

History

View of the first shelter of the station in 1800

The station was inaugurated on 15 May 1863 with the name of "Avenza",^[1][2] as part of the railway section between Sarzana and Massa.^[3]

On 10 September 1866, the station became a branch point of a short connection with Carrara Town (Carrara San Martino Station) of 4.5 km. In 1876 was founded the Private Marble Railway of Carrara a so they were installed 6 platforms available to the marble traffic.

On 20 May 1915 in the underpass road Viale XX Settembre, in the immediate vicinity of the station, began to pass convoys of the electric tramway granted to the Municipality of Carrara for the connection to the Marina: 6.3 km long the tramway was electrified at constant voltage of 600 V, the line was equipped with the standard gauge of 1,445 mm. The tram service was definitively suppressed^[4] in 1955 for the installation of a trolleybus.

In 1939 the station, then called "Carrara-Avenza," took on the new name of "Apuania Carrara" with the institution of the municipality of Apuania;^[5] the previous name was restored in the 1949, with the abolition of the former municipality first mentioned in 1946.^[6]

The traffic coming from the marble railway definitively ceased with its suppression, which occurred on 15 May 1964. The elimination of the branch with Carrara San Martino dates back to 28 February 1969.^[7] In June 2012 were removed the platforms used for the movement of marble goods.

With the decline of freight traffic, with which they could not keep the impositions of the RFI, and also because in the small station there was no train that arrived or departed from there, then RFI imposed the transformation in "not attended station" starting with the time entered into force in December 2012.^[8]

Overview

View of the passenger building in 2013

The station has two platforms for passenger transport. Until June 2012 it had it had a third that was used for trains from Firenze Santa Maria Novella. With this third there were also another six for freight trains that, among other things, since 1964 doesn't stop anymore at the station.

The two shelters that it owns are connected by an underpass.

Passenger building

A view from the west part of the station of Avenza in the early 20th century

The passenger building is composed of a single body with rectangular plan. To the east of PB, there is a small garden of the 20th century characterized by the presence of trees such as pines and firs and a large palm that is there from the opening of the station, there are also two fountains, a little to drink and a big. Both do not work anymore.

Railway view

• Track 1: the main track for trains to Pisa. To La Spezia are also present some railway switches that allow trains to switch from track 1–2;
• Track 2: the main track for trains to La Spezia. This track in particular had a connection with the track 3;
• Track 3: it was used mainly used for trains from Firenze SMN terminal that were in the station. This deeper, towards La Spezia, ended with a bumper and right behind that there is a similar structure or a toll booth;
• Tracks 4-5-6-7-8: they were work tracks all branched from a single platform from the second railway bridge in the direction of Carrara San Martino of the closed Avenza-Carrara railway. The track 8 was not equipped with electrification unlike the other 4.
• Separated goods track: it was a track to the right looking towards Pisa. Until the 2004 it had also the electrification and a light signal. In 2005 it was deprived of both. It was finally removed with the other trunk binaries in 2012. This track was also used in the past by the Marmifera railway for connection to the port of Marina di Carrara. In 2008 it was paved with the lengthening of the shelter;

All the tracks 3-4-6 and the separated goods track were removed in June 2012.

Services

The station, that in 2007 was frequented by an average of 1,000 people a day,^[9] can offer services such as:

Ticket machine Tickets at door Waiting room Parking Bar Underpass Newsstand Bathroom

Restaurant Public telephone Taxi stop ATN autobus lines stop Bicycles parking Video security Speaker for trains arrivals, transits and departures

See also

• History of rail transport in Italy
• Avenza
• Carrara
• Carrara San Martino railway station
• Carrara Private Marble railway
• Avenza–Carrara railway

References

1. Quando Avenza volle il Piemonte, got from La Nazione, 28 Giugno 1995. Retrieved February 2014.
2. Atti organici della Società anonima delle strade ferrate romane, pp. 220 and following.
3. "Chronological overview of the features of railway opened to the exercise from 1839 to December 31, 1926". Alessandro Tuzza. 1927. Archived from the original on 1997. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
4. Annalisa Giovani, Stefano Maggi, Muoversi in Toscana. Ferrovie e trasporti dal Granducato alla Regione, op. cit.
5. Service order n. 61 of the 1939
6. Service order n. 72 of the 1949
7. FENIT 1946–1996, Rome, FENIT, 1996. No ISBN
8. Territorial Circular RFI RFI 015/2012 of the 21 december 2012 (PDF).
9. (Italian) 2008 statistics RFI database

Sources

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